


I made a tidal wave (just to get close to you)

by lesbiangeekspiral



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-13 05:37:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4509843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbiangeekspiral/pseuds/lesbiangeekspiral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura was ready to spend her summer at her normal job, making sandwiches for tourists and third wheeling LaFontaine and Perry (who were totally dating despite their denials). Hell, she was even ready to work for Mattie, her boss from hell. What she wasn't ready for was the new lifeguard, Danny Lawrence, to enter her life and and sweep her off her feet. She wasn't ready at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Laura’s day started like any other. She woke up at 8 to the sound of her father making breakfast, she listened to his daily rant about mace vs. pepper spray, and she left for work.

Her walk to work was short, just a few minutes where she strolled next to the ocean, taking in the smells and sounds, saying hi to a few neighbors already awake for the day. She stops into the café at the end of the block and sees Kirsch, the boy graduated only a year earlier than her, but he still loves calling her “little hottie”. At least the free coffees are nice. 

The bell dings as she enters work, a small sandwich shop that is frequented by tourists and locals alike. Mattie, her overly intense boss gives her a wave as she heads over to grab her apron.

“You have no idea how bad it’s been” Laf says emerging from the kitchen space, hair all over the place as usual.

“You’ve been here for five minutes.” Laura replies, picking what looks like chicken off of Laf’s shirt. 

“Yeah well, Mattie already yelled at me for finding some chemicals in the back and trying to mix them with different foods.” Laura can’t help the bark of laughter that escapes her.

“Oh so that’s with the exploded chicken all over you!” 

“Yeah! We don’t open for another hour and she’s already mad at me today.” Laf sighs, grabbing gloves and starting prep for the day. 

“At least you didn’t date her sister for all of five seconds and somehow make an enemy out of her” Laura grumbles.

“Have you heard from her since..?” 

“Since she left for college a year ago? No. But it’s fine, I'm over it, but clearly her sister isn't.”

Laf gives her a sympathetic look, and they continue to prep in silence. It isn’t until 11 that they open the doors to the public and they are swamped immediately. 

It’s like any other day. Laura takes the orders and starts all the sandwiches while Laf works grill and deli slicer. For someone so clumsy it’s a shock that they are so good at their job. 

It’s the first week of the summer which means seeing the regular tourists from last summer getting their usual and seeing new ones, having to say “sorry we don’t have that” or “We only serve sandwiches here ma’am” an ungodly amount of times. The line doesn’t seem to end, but the tip jar labelled “help me I’m poor!” is filling up and Laf hasn’t burned themselves…yet. So Laura can’t really complain. 

Around 2 it winds down. Laf is on their break and Laura’s cleaning the grill fruitlessly. The more she scrubs the less seems to come off, but Mattie told her the grill was looking worse than the corner of the freezer, so she had no choice. Hair falling out of her bun, sweating through her shirt, she hears the bell ring as the door opens and she checks the time. 2:17. Right on time as always. 

“Hey Per, one sec this grill just won’t get fucking-“ 

Laura turns to see the most gorgeous girl she’s ever seen. She’s tall, like extremely tall, with wild red hair and deep blue eyes like the ocean outside and her freckles make constellations on her face and she forgets how to breathe. 

“Uh-hi.” Is all she can muster.

“Hi” the mystery girl smiles, Laura almost faints.

“Hey Laura!” She snaps her attention to Perry, who’s smirking at her with an eyebrow raised, Laura can feel her ears turning red. She wipes her hands on her apron and tries to recover. 

“Hey Per! How was school?”

“It was very good, thanks for asking. Is Lafontaine around?”

Laura can’t help but mimic the smirk Perry gave her earlier, “They’re outside, give them a lecture about mixing chemicals and food okay?” Perry’s eyes go wide before she turns to the girl and mumbles, “I’ll be back” before rushing out. 

There’s an awkward silence where Laura panics to think of something to say. 

“Can I get you anything?” She cringes. Way to go, Hollis.

“Uh-yeah. I’ll have turkey with lettuce I guess.” 

Laura nods and starts to prep the sandwich. 

“I’m Danny, by the way.” Laura looks up, blowing hair out of her face and smiles.

“Laura. Sorry, Perry is usually better about being polite and introductions and all that, it’s just Lafontaine and explosives have a long history together.”

Danny laughs and Laura’s heart races. “So do you know Perry from school or…?” She trails off.

“I just moved here, actually. Or my parents did. I lifeguard with Perry. It’s my first day.”

Laura stops what she’s doing and takes a longer look at Danny. How did she miss the bright red shorts and the tank? As a future journalist she is embarrassed by her lack of observation skills. The string of her bathing suit juts out from underneath her shirt and Laura’s spent enough time with Perry to know that she’s wearing a two piece. She stops herself before she lets her mind wander too far. 

“Oh cool!” She squeaks out, “Do you like it so far?” 

“The job’s great, I get to spend all day in the sun and get paid for it, I just don’t really know anyone in town so I’ve been following Perry around like a lost puppy.” Danny chuckles, “I’ve met Kirsch. That was interesting.”

“Oh yeah, he means well, but you know-“

“Perry didn’t let him even talk to me, it was hilarious.”

Laura can’t help but laugh at that image. “He calls me ‘little hottie’ don’t really know why though.”

“Because you’re hot.” Danny says it and her head flick to the side in confusion before realizing what she said and her whole face turns as red as her top. 

Before she can recover, Perry sticks her head in the door, “Danny we gotta head back, Elsie is only eighteen and I don’t want her manning the beach by herself.”

“Be right there!” Danny says as Laura wraps her sub. Danny’s quick to grab for her wallet, but Laura shakes her head.

“It’s -uh-lifeguard discount, don’t worry about it.” Laura brushes her off. Danny takes her sandwich and smiles at her.

“I’ll see you around Laura.” She turns to meet Perry, and she’s almost to the door when Laura yells, “Do you want to hang out sometime?” 

Danny’s smile is huge when she turns around, “Yeah, I’d like that.” Before waving one final goodbye and heading out. 

Laura can’t wipe the smile off of her face. 

Laf comes back from their break soon after to Laura cleaning the grill and humming some pop-y love song she swears she hates. 

“Soooo, what I miss?” Laf smirks at her. 

“Why didn’t you tell me Perry’s new co-worker was hot!” Laura yells as she throws the brush at Laf. 

They just shrugs, “It was funnier this way.” Laura tackles them and they laugh the whole way down. 

Laura spends the rest of the day thinking about Danny, and it doesn’t hit her until she is in for the night cuddled up with Netflix that she realizes she didn’t even get this girls number. 

“Oh crap” she wines as she hits her head face first into her pillow. 

She needs Danny’s number and she isn’t working tomorrow. This only means one thing. 

Laura has to go to the beach. 

She lets out a loud whine before texting Laf. 

“You WHAT?” is the response she gets. 

Yeah, she’s screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks so much for reading! Feedback is greatly appreciated!

It’s not that Laura _hates_ the beach, it’s just that sand always gets everywhere and she always burns and the water gets in her eyes and down her throat and…

Yeah, Laura hates the beach. 

But here she is, towel in hand, walking to the most dreaded place on earth, all because she never got Danny’s number. Laf is beside her, bouncing with excitement, they never get to go to the beach because of Laura, and they are taking advantage of this rare day.

“We are totally making a sandcastle with a moat, and then we are totally going hunting for crabs later!” they ramble, bag clinking with sample containers they stole from their house. 

“Let’s just get me on the beach first, okay?” Laura sighs, “I can’t believe I’m not spending my day off catching up on Buffy reruns in my PJ’s.”

Lafontanie laughs, “You do that every day off!” 

They fall into silence, waving to a few people as they reach the bridge, as they cross they decide to grab lunch from work. Seeing Mattie is a risk they’re willing to take, the bread is to die for. 

Laura gets her usual, chatting with Theo as he makes her complicated sandwich. Right before he rings her up, she remembers her “lifeguard discount” incident the day before, and quickly orders a turkey and lettuce sub. Laf just gives her a look before shrugging, grabbing their sub and Perry’s salad. 

Every step closer to the beach makes Laura’s heart thud in her chest. She hasn’t been here in years. She hasn’t been here since…

She hears Danny before she sees her. Her laugh echos through the small crowd forming on the beach, joking with Perry as they set up their gear. Laf yells for Perry and hurries their pace, Laura doesn’t miss the big smile Perry gives them. Laura takes her time, trying to control her breathing as she walks towards Danny, who greets her with a huge smile.

“Hey Laura, what’s going on?” The sun is hitting her just so that her eyes are almost the color of the ocean crashing behind her. Laura’s face grows hot and for a moment she forgets how much she hates this place. 

“Oh, you know, spending my day off relaxing on the beach!” 

“Laura, you hate-!” Perry exclaims, shutting her mouth as Laura gives her a pointed stare. 

Danny doesn’t take her eyes off of Laura. 

“Oh!” Laura digs through her bag, “I grabbed you a sub, turkey and lettuce, right?” She smiles shyly as Danny takes the sandwich from her, clearly surprised. 

“Wow, thanks Laura! This saves me the trip, I can’t believe they only give us fifteen minutes for a break.” She runs her hands through her hair and Laura almost loses consciousness. 

“Hey, Earth to Hollis! We have some sandcastles to build!” Laf nudges her shoulder, breaking her stare with Danny. The wind whips sand in her face and she cringes. Mentally scolding herself for coming here over a girl. 

She gives Danny a wave and a “come say hi later!” before running after Laf, who’s already halfway to the water. 

Okay, so it isn’t _so_ bad. LaFontaine makes sure she’s covered in sunscreen and the wet sand doesn’t invade her towel as much, and Laf totally understands her aversion to water, and they even try and teach her to swim a little. Laura reads while they build a massive sand castle, leaving the kids surrounding them in awe. Danny and Perry walk by a few times, strolling from the chair to the shore, making sure everyone is being safe. Perry yells at a few kids who are roughhousing too close to the tide pools, but everything else is calm. Danny always gives Laura a small wave, and she can’t help but blush as she waves back, not ignoring the big smile on Danny’s face. 

They spend all afternoon there. It isn’t until the tide starts to shift that they start to pack up to leave. When they notice Perry and Danny doing the same, they decide to wait for them, Laf texting Perry the plan. Once they’re done, the group meets up at the top of the bridge, beachgoers streaming out to get a well-deserved dinner. 

LaFontaine and Perry leave, both living on the other side of town, Laf already complaining about work the next day. Danny stands across from Laura, waiting for her as she hugs Perry goodbye. 

“Do you want me to walk you home, Laura?” Danny asks, her head tilted the same way it was the day before. Butterflies swarm in Laura’s stomach. 

“Uh-sure! If it’s not out of your way. I’m only like a ten minute walk that way” She points in the direction of her house, past the boardwalk lighting up in the evening sky. 

Danny nods, and they start off. It’s silent for a bit, only the sounds of the ocean and the crowed to listen to. Laura scrambles for something to talk about. 

“Sooo…how do you like town?” She looks up (has she always been this tall?) to Danny’s eager eyes. 

“I like it well enough. My parents kinda sprung it on me. They wanted to retire and the market was good I guess.” Danny shrugs, “It was just weird not coming home to my room, you know? Just a bunch of boxes.” 

“I get it,” Laura replies, “It’s like everything’s been kinda ripped up and they expect you to put it back together.” 

Danny nods. Their arms brush together and Laura’s heart hammers in her chest. They pass the boardwalk, rides and music almost drowning out the noise of tourists screaming and chatting away. The smells of fried food swarm around them. Laura can't help but smile from the memories of this place.

“Have you been to the boardwalk yet?” Laura asks with enthusiasm.

Danny laughs, “Not yet, my life is basically work right now.”

“We’ll have to change that then! There are so many cool places in town, and you’ve got an exclusive look at all of them! I can even show you the stuff the tourists don’t know about!” Laura waggles her eyebrows and Danny giggles. As they approach her house, Laura slows down, not wanting to leave Danny. 

“You want to stay for dinner? My dad makes a mean grilled cheese.” Laura jokes. 

Danny rubs the back of her neck, “I’d love to, but my parents are taking me out tonight. Rain check?”

Laura nods, “When we both have a day off we can go to the boardwalk and test all the fried foods and eat grilled cheese.” 

“Totally, I think my body will die from all that food, but yes, I’d love to. I’m glad I ran into you, Laura. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Danny waves and for a second time, Laura finds herself yelling at her.

“Wait!” Danny turns around, “Can I get your number? So we can meet up. Work isn’t really the best place to make plans because we’re both so busy you know people need to eat and the beach needs to be saved and-“

“Give me your phone” Danny laughs at her babbling. Laura blushes as she digs her phone out and hands it to her. She punches in her contact info and hands it back, not before checking the time. 

“Oh shit! My parents are gonna kill me! Text me, okay?” Danny doesn’t leave until Laura nods, and then she takes off. Laura looks on until Danny disappears down the road.

Later that night she stares at the blank message to Danny, her contact name decorated with sun and ocean emojis. 

“Okay Laura, be cool. Just…be casual.”

“Hey it’s Laura!” She hits send. And then quickly panics.

“Hollis. Laura Hollis. The girl from the sandwich shop?” She hits send again. Danny is quick to reply back.

“Yes Laura, I know who you are haha. I saw you a few hours ago? Or did you hit your head in those few hours? Do you need first aid? I do know first aid.” 

Laura smiles wide, and texts her back. They text for hours and hours into the night. Talking about everything from college to movies to whether or not Laf and Perry are dating yet. They talk so long that Laura forgets about all her worries from the beginning of the day. 

Laura falls asleep with her phone on her chest, lit up with “I’m so glad we met, Laura” and a smile on her face.


End file.
